On Sunday night, early Monday morning, I woke from a sound sleep to a rumbling noise.  The noise grew louder until it sounded like a freight train.  A tornado at 1:30 a.m. in August in Indiana.  This is unheard of.  We have tornadoes when there are severe weather changes in the Spring (mostly) and Fall (less likely, but still happens)….but not in the middle of Summer.

I got up and went to the safest place on my side of the house — the bathroom.  I looked outside but could see nothing.  It was the most eerie feeling.  I could hear it above me, but could not see it visually.

The power was knocked out for what I guess is hours.  It was back on when I awoke in the morning.  I wondered what I would see when I looked outside…

Some of the sunflowers didn’t make it and some seedlings were torn out of their pots, but other than that, we escaped with little damage.

It wasn’t that way for others.  Many, many older trees were uprooted.  Crops were flattened.  The worst of it hit just a half mile from us — the historical society which had several historical buildings on the grounds including a round barn that was popular in the area at one time.

The weather service insists that what happened was a microburst.  But first they insisted it was straight-line winds.  They changed it to microburst when it was pointed out that the trees, crops, and other damage were all going in different directions, indicating a swirling motion, therefore, a tornado.

I know what I heard — a freight train– as all tornadoes are described.  I also felt cold air coming down in the days prior to the tornado.  It was notable because that does not happen until mid-to-late September, with the change of seasons.  It is not normal to have such a chill in the air in August.  Our August is hot, muggy, and miserable.  It made you glad that Fall was around the corner because all you did the entire month was sweat buckets and stay inside in the air conditioning.

We are experiencing cooler than normal temperatures, but still not cool enough to jive with the chill in the air — that happens at around 60 degrees, not 75 and 80 degrees.

Anyway, the round barn’s roof was torn off.  Surprisingly, all of the contents — including a covered wagon, a farm implement that I’m not sure what it did, another old work wagon, and many, many tools used by our ancestors were spared.   An old jail was demolished.  A roof of an old cabin was lifted up and placed back on the structure, albeit off-kilter.

Several large trees were uprooted, as well.  This was disturbing on so many levels.  When I was younger, and a tree was uprooted, it was an unusual event.  They were strong and had large roots.  I remember seeing these large roots with a tree lying on its side.  But the trees that were uprooted Monday morning had much smaller roots.  It was not jiving with the size of these trees.  I can’t even guess at how tall the trees were, but they had have been at least 100 years old by their circumference.  I know that this probably has something to do with chemicals.  Perhaps the fertilizers and herbicides have something to do with the trees still looking like they are healthy (growing), but interfering with their natural root growth?

I went to help out when they announced on the radio that the historical society needed volunteers to help clean up.

I’ve read the historian’s reports in our local newspaper, and as she approached me, I said, “What a mess…” not really knowing what to say to her.  She had been involved in this for many years and was pretty much devoted to it.  She was pretty emotional when she said simply “thank you.”    I felt bad for her because it was like seeing your life’s work be dashed.

However, there were a good group of volunteers that got to work and cleaned up with a purpose.

You can always tell farm folk from city folk amongst volunteers.  City folk want to form a committee and examine an issue from all sides before they act on it.  Farm folk just dive right in and start doing it.  And they’re not afraid of danger.  **edited to add:  an example was a young boy, probably 12-13 years old hopped on his dad’s tractor and began driving it into the barn.  By his manner, you could tell he had been doing this for awhile.  City folk, on the other hand, are calling the police if someone allows their kids to walk a mile to the playground.

It was dangerous with the round barn.  We were up a flight with a wood floor underneath us.  It had two holes that I could see and honestly, it made me, a city girl, a little nervous.  We had a good leader who looked at the situation, and then acted.  We followed his cue.  And it wasn’t like he was telling everyone else what to do, but rather, everyone would make a suggestion if they saw a better way.  It was a collaborative effort.  Nice.

…and boy, were my muscles aching the next day.  I have plantar fasciitis in one foot, and it was screaming at the end of the day.  ow.

It felt good to volunteer.  I used to do that a lot in my past life…but was shunned after my divorce, so I quit volunteering.  I had helped with the Easter dinner my church put on for the poor for several years.  Even after my divorce, the lady running it was not intimidated by my ex and his family, nor did she pay attention to the gossip (funny how bearing false witness never crosses their minds)nor bullying mindset, and she was as kind and a true example of how Jesus would treat someone.  Unfortunately, this wonderful woman was stricken with cancer, and passed.  At the last Easter dinner I served, another volunteer who did not know me by face, introduced herself and extended her hand.  When I took her hand, and said my name, she got “the look” across her face and dropped my hand.

And this was on my mind when I went over to help out…it cast a shadow over what should be an upbeat motion towards healing of a bad event…

**edited to add:  It also felt good as I could physically help.  At one point, my muscles were very weak and with the adrenals/thyroid weakness, I could not have physically withstood the three hours I was there.  I would have stopped after an hour and ended up with a migraine the next day, as well.  So it was an inner victory for me as well. 🙂